The 27th Theatre Festival in Piatra Neamt

After a four-year break, the Piatra Neamt Theatre Festival was back in October at the local Youth Theatre.

Luana Pleşea, 21.11.2015, 13:05

Aimed at promoting young theatre professionals, including directors, stage designers and actors, this is the oldest theatre festival in Romania, having been held for the first time in 1969. This year, the festival was again hosted by the Youth Theatres landmark building, which has been undergoing extensive restoration works for the last few years.

The Youth Theatre is known as a launch pad for some of the greatest names in Romanian theatre, such as actors Florin Piersic and Leopoldina Balanuta and many other outstanding actors and directors. The productions staged this year in Piatra Neamt were intended as an X-ray of contemporary theatre, while also providing a panoramic view of the trends generated by young Romanian theatre professionals.

Given that independent theatre has become extremely active and visible in recent years, the festival featured many independent productions. “Make the First Step, based on the work of the French playwright Jean-Claude Carriere, was first staged by Andrei Munteanu at Bucharests Arts Theatre, an independent company founded in 2010. The female protagonist is played by Raluca Aprodu, who is known for her roles in independent and state theatre productions, as well as films. She spoke about the relationship between choosing a work and staging that work by an independent company.

Raluca Aprodu: It shouldnt be influenced by anything. It should be a wish of the actor to encounter a character, a directors wish to have a meeting with the text, and thats pretty much it, I guess. Indeed, we are very particular about the venue where were acting it. There are places where the most important thing is for people to come and watch it. And then you start making compromises, little by little. Sadly, it matters a great deal that people should read the word comedy on the poster. Nobody wants to watch a serious performance any longer, after a days work. And if they make a choice, they opt for the state theatre. And then, if you want to attract them, you must be a bit ‘cunning. At Godots we run a performance entitled ‘Happy End. Its initial title was ‘Lisolette in May. It was not attractive. We changed it into ‘Happy End. It mattered a lot. Although it is the same show, we managed to bring the public to the theatre and offer exactly what we wanted to. There are many independent theater shows, and people have begun to attend such shows, all the more so as well-established actors have veered towards independent theater. And that is very important.

In order to encourage youngsters, the Theatre Festival in Piatra Neamt has a Competition section, in which 16 performances were singled out this year out of the 80 shows registered. The winner of the Best actress category was Nicoleta Lefter, for the part of Nadia in Saviana Stanescus “Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, directed by Alexandru Mihail at the Odeon Theater in Bucharest. “Aliens with Extraordinary Skills was produced at the “Julia Miles Theater in New York in 2008, and enjoyed enthusiastic reviews in New York Times and other US publications. The facts the story was based upon are real: a Romanian and a Ukrainian brought to the US more than 800 illegal migrants, using counterfeit visas that identified them as circus performers. 33-year old Nicoleta Lefter is one of the best actresses of her generation. She takes part in a great number of festivals and shares the opinion that such events are needed for the young people.

Nicoleta Lefter: “I believe the biggest step forward would be to try and persuade young people to get away from computers and television, to come see living people on the stage, to feel things they cannot experience in front of a screen. Things that may change you and make you like socializing. I notice that we are more and more attracted by solitude and isolation. People no longer socialize, are no longer open, they dont enjoy meeting, talking, finding out what someone else is doing. I believe that this is the most important thing. And secondly, if these shows also have something educative, that stimulates the imagination of young people, that is wonderful.

Vlad Cristache is one of the young directors invited to the festival. He put on the show “The History Boys. Stories with High School Flavor, by Alan Bennett, at Excelsior Theater in Bucharest. This production received two nominations, one for Best Show and one for Best Director. Lets wrap up with Vlad Cristaches opinion on the need to have festivals dedicated to young creators:

Vlad Cristache: “On the one hand, it seems great to me that this happens, because you link two generations of artists, people who have debuted in the last 10 years, you gather together their productions, and find out in what direction they see theater going. That is great. On the other hand, I dont believe in this division between young and old people, and I believe that there can be older and much more experienced people who can be fresher in their artistic solutions and the way in which their shows look. I dont believe that artistic youth lies in biology, I think it lies in oneself.

(Translation by: Cristina Mateescu, Calin Cotoiu, Eugen Nasta)